luvmy2babies
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2010
My son up until this year and my daughter when she could wore the Garanimals line at Wal-Mart pretty much every day but Sunday. Very economical clothing line.
I buy a lot of tops for my daughter there too.
I aim to buy Coats and jackets big enough to wear for 2 years. I don’t always succeed.
I have minimal clothing for myself, do a lot of mixing and matching
Kids’ jeans come from Children’s Place or Crazy 8 once they go on sale
Church clothes come from “Once Upon a Child”, (thrift store near my daughter’s aftercare) or a clearance sale
School clothes are uniforms. Prior to last year I would always shop sales for those. Old Navy in particular does $5 Polos each year. Although it wasn't a vacation related decision, last year I switched my daughter to a charter school so I no longer have tuition. They specify one store for uniforms so I just try to hit the sales the store has.
We will all be packing lunch during the school year
A lesson I learned regarding shoes was to get the best thing you can afford. Getting a lesser shoe in my house has turned into going back again in ½ the normal time.
We don't have a lot of books in the house; but we go to the library
The biggest lesson I learned and sometimes the hard way was to really keep things documented, to have a place where I can go and look at expenses and how I spend. In my written budget I have an excel file with a tab for each month so I can look ahead and see if we can stay on track for our goal. And I can’t leave anything out, especially the things that don’t occur regularly (ex: quarterly obligations like oil changes and exterminator sprays). I need to plan for them. I learned I have to take the time to evaluate how the amount I budgeted for something compared to what I actually spent. And having things laid out helps me plan better.
I have learned that often timing really is everything. I learned that sometimes when I have overspent and either come up short and or can’t do something I need to do, or save what I wanted, it wasn’t because did something frivolous or I got something I didn’t need; but because I maybe got it 2 weeks before I should have.
So when planning for Disney, I price our trip and calculate the monthly payment that will be required to pay it off. Then I can place that in the budget tabs to see if it will actually work.
We have always stayed at Value resorts
We usually get the dining plan because wherever I am going, the more that is paid ahead of time the better I like it.
We order breakfast items and drinks from Garden Grocer to save the snack credits
I buy a lot of tops for my daughter there too.
I aim to buy Coats and jackets big enough to wear for 2 years. I don’t always succeed.
I have minimal clothing for myself, do a lot of mixing and matching
Kids’ jeans come from Children’s Place or Crazy 8 once they go on sale
Church clothes come from “Once Upon a Child”, (thrift store near my daughter’s aftercare) or a clearance sale
School clothes are uniforms. Prior to last year I would always shop sales for those. Old Navy in particular does $5 Polos each year. Although it wasn't a vacation related decision, last year I switched my daughter to a charter school so I no longer have tuition. They specify one store for uniforms so I just try to hit the sales the store has.
We will all be packing lunch during the school year
A lesson I learned regarding shoes was to get the best thing you can afford. Getting a lesser shoe in my house has turned into going back again in ½ the normal time.
We don't have a lot of books in the house; but we go to the library
The biggest lesson I learned and sometimes the hard way was to really keep things documented, to have a place where I can go and look at expenses and how I spend. In my written budget I have an excel file with a tab for each month so I can look ahead and see if we can stay on track for our goal. And I can’t leave anything out, especially the things that don’t occur regularly (ex: quarterly obligations like oil changes and exterminator sprays). I need to plan for them. I learned I have to take the time to evaluate how the amount I budgeted for something compared to what I actually spent. And having things laid out helps me plan better.
I have learned that often timing really is everything. I learned that sometimes when I have overspent and either come up short and or can’t do something I need to do, or save what I wanted, it wasn’t because did something frivolous or I got something I didn’t need; but because I maybe got it 2 weeks before I should have.
So when planning for Disney, I price our trip and calculate the monthly payment that will be required to pay it off. Then I can place that in the budget tabs to see if it will actually work.
We have always stayed at Value resorts
We usually get the dining plan because wherever I am going, the more that is paid ahead of time the better I like it.
We order breakfast items and drinks from Garden Grocer to save the snack credits